ESFPA E-News

U.S. Trade Court Blocks Trump Tariff Action - Then is Reversed

Last week the U.S. Court of International Trade ruled that President Trump does not have the authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 (IEEPA) to impose sweeping tariffs on a global level.  The court blocked most categories of tariffs, including the 10% baseline tariff on all countries, the 30% tariff on Chinese goods, and the 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico.  Tariff collection is ordered to be halted within 10 days.  Tariffs issued under national security powers (Section 232 actions) on steel, aluminum, and cars remain in place.  Section 232 investigations underway related to pharmaceuticals, lumber and critical minerals will not be impacted. 

The White House immediately appealed the decision and affirmed their belief that the President and his team have the legal authority to act under the IEEPA.  A federal appeals court agreed and temporarily reinstated all tariffs halted by the Court of International Trade until the appeals court can rule on the Administration's motion for a longer-term pause of the lower court decision.  Known as an administrative stay, this is not a ruling on the merits of the case, but the court more time to consider arguments.  Both plaintiffs (companies that brought suit) and defense (the U.S. Justice Department) have been asked to provide additional information. Bottom line:  Uncertainty continues for both importers and exporters, including the U.S. hardwood industry.

The tariff yo-yo continues.

A New Pathogenic Fungus is Threatening Bats

One fungus, two species, millions of dead bats: a study that was published in the journal Nature on 28 May 2025 analysed 5000 samples of a fungus that is responsible for the largest recorded pathogen-caused mortality in mammals. An international team of researchers, led by a doctoral candidate at the University of Greifswald, produced the study in collaboration with partners from France, Bulgaria, Finland and Ukraine and several hundred volunteers. The results shed light on the risks posed by human intervention in delicate ecosystems and point out: cave research requires stricter biosecurity standards – if a second species of the fungus reaches North America, even more drastic death rates can be expected.

Click the link below to read the full article:

Special Webinar Announcement: "'Our Forests, Our Future': The History of the Society of American Foresters"

with Char Miller. Hosted by Jamie Lewis 

June 9, 2025 | 1-2 PM ET

The Society of American Foresters is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year. To mark the occasion, SAF is publishing a collection of essays that look at the many facets of the organization’s history, impact, and legacy in the new book Our Forests, Our Future: Honoring the Past, Engaging the Present, and Leading to the Future. Join historian Char Miller, the book’s editor and a contributor, and FHS historian Jamie Lewis for a discussion about SAF’s history. 

Char Miller is the W.M. Keck Professor of Environmental Analysis and History at Pomona College. His most recent books include The Yale School of the Environment: The First 125 Years (forthcoming 2025), Burn Scars: A Documentary History of Fire Suppression, From Colonial Origins to the Resurgence of Cultural Burning (2024), Natural Consequences: Intimate Essays for a Planet in Peril (2022), and West Side Rising: How San Antonio’s 1921 Flood Devastated a City and Sparked a Latino Environmental Justice Movement (2021).

Click the link below to register for the webinar:

Tax Reform Makes Progress...Slowly

From the Hardwood Federation

Pursuing tax policies that support hardwood business operations has long been a priority issue for the Hardwood Federation.  Extending or making permanent the business-friendly tax benefits of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) has been on our radar since Donald Trump was elected President last November.  The HF Team has been on the Hill and engaged with similarly minded coalitions for months advocating for extension and permanency and it was one of our top two issues for the recent Fly-In. The good news is progress is being made.  Slow progress to be sure, but small steps add up to big change.

The first significant goal was met in May when the House of Representatives voted 215-214 to advance a comprehensive budget reconciliation bill that encompasses GOP policy priorities. The legislation includes robust tax provisions that revive and extend key business tax benefits, including full expensing, the research and development tax credit and the Section 199A deduction for S-Corporations and pass throughs. To pay for these provisions and others, the measure cuts spending for Medicaid and food assistance programs in addition to eliminating renewable energy tax credits authorized by the Inflation Reduction Act.

Key business tax benefit provisions included in the bill include:

• 100% Bonus Depreciation/Full Expensing: Language allows taxpayers to immediately expense 100 percent of capital investments in machinery and equipment made on or after January 20, 2025, and before January 1, 2030. House GOP leaders entered the reconciliation process hoping to extend this benefit permanently but opted for a 5-year extension based on cost concerns. We understand there is a strong appetite in the Senate to modify this provision to make it permanent.
• Research & Development (R&D) Credit: The provision allows taxpayers to fully write off their R&D costs in the same year in which those costs are incurred. This benefit actually expired in 2022. The bill makes the R&D credit retroactive to January 1, 2025, and extends it through December 31, 2030. Again, the Senate is interested in making this benefit permanent.
• Section 199A:  The 20 percent deduction for S-Corporations and other pass-through structures expires at the end of this year. This benefit would not only be made permanent, but it is also increased to 23 percent.
• Section 179: The proposal increases the maximum amount a business may write off certain expenses to $2.5 million and increases the phaseout threshold amount to $4 million.
• EBITDA: The bill restores EBITDA as the measure for calculating business interest expense. The current standard established by TCJA is EBIT, which is not as generous and serves to make  companies less competitive, particularly in a high-interest rate environment.
• FDII and GILTI: Under the TCJA, after 2025, the foreign-derived intangible income (FDII) deduction was scheduled to be reduced from 37.5% of FDII to 21.875%, and the global intangible low-taxed income (GILTI) inclusion deduction amount was scheduled to be reduced from 50% to 37.5% under Sec. 259(a)(3). The bill would repeal those reductions.
• BEAT tax: Under Sec. 59A, the base-erosion and anti-abuse (BEAT) tax is scheduled to increase from 10% to 12.5% after 2025, and regular tax liability will be reduced (and the BEAT minimum tax amount therefore increased) by the sum of all the taxpayer’s income tax credits for the tax year. The bill would eliminate that increase and the provision reducing regular tax liability by the sum of the taxpayer’s tax credits.
• Estate and Gift Tax Exemption: The basic estate and gift tax exemption amount and the generation-skipping transfer tax exemption would be permanently increased to $15 million. TCJA had temporarily increased it to $10 million (adjusted for inflation), but that increase is expiring next year. The $15 million exemption amount would be indexed for inflation after 2025.
• State and Local Tax (SALT) Deduction: Language in the bill raises the SALT deduction cap from $10,000 to $40,000.

The legislation is now pending in the Senate where the upper chamber will attempt to revise the measure. Again, Senators have opined that they would like to make full expensing and the R&D credit permanent. But given the extremely narrow margin in the House—the bill passed by one vote—it will be interesting to see how the Senate proceeds knowing that significant revisions may disrupt the fragile framework in the lower chamber that enabled this bill to pass. The Hardwood Federation will be working with our Senate champions to encourage permanent extension of these two key business tax benefits.

2025 Northern Hardwoods Conference Abstract Deadline Extended

Submit your abstract for a poster or presentation by Sunday, June 8 to be a part of the program at NHC 2025. They are welcoming abstracts from professionals, researchers and students, and encourage presentations and posters on the following topics:

• Adaptive Management
• Emerging Technologies
• Forest Carbon
• Forest Operations & Economics
• Forestry Education & Extension
• Non-Timber Forest Products
• Northern Hardwood Silviculture
• Nutrient Cycling & Biogeochemistry
• Pests, Pathogens & Invasives
• Planning & Decision Tools
• Policy & Law
• Urban & Community Forestry
• Water & Forest Hydrology
• Wildlife Management

Click the link below to submit an abstract: